[Painting/Labeling] T-Shirt Transfer on Painted Boxes?

[moritz]

From what i've read, the t-shirt transfer method for stompbox labeling works fine on plain aluminium boxes, however...

I'm wondering if anyone has had success using T-shirt transfer on painted boxes?

I know there have been issues regarding the paint turning into messy goo when ironing on the transfer, but what about, say, enamel that has been baked? Isn't that fairly heat resistant after baking?

Also, i was in an automotive shop a while back, and noticed they had this spray paint for painting car engine blocks. It's made to be very heat tollerant (duh) and what more, comes in several bright, funky colours (from what i remember, bright orange, red, blue, etc.). Has anyone had success with such paint and T-shirt tranfer by any chance?

Any thoughts :?:

[MartyMart]

Good question, this is a tough one that I'm still trying to solve !
I tried the "T-shirt" transfer and had the "goo" problem with a painted box, I imagine that a "Baked" surface or your engine block paint would work fine ?
I've yet to try it on a plain "polished alu" box.
Just tried some "water slide decals" on a painted surface, they are very delicate and a bit hard to handel, but if you are patient, let them dry out for 24 hrs, then lots of coats of lacquer- also let it dry for at least 24hrs  you can get a good result.
I'd like to know how you get on with that engine paint ? :wink:

Marty.

[bwanasonic]

The other thing I was considering was masking off the top of the enclosure, and just painting the sides and back. Then use the transfer for the top. I suppose you could just paint the whole thing and then grind off the top if you were so inclined. I'd like to see some long term results on how those transfers age/wear with steady gigging use.

Kerry M

[toneman]

the "gooing" might B from the paint not being *completely* dry.
it's dry 2 the touch, but not dry through & through.
MayB try a "prepainted" box. These are completely dry thru & thru.
Unfortunately, they usually only come in un-exciting grey  
Another thought, try laquer instead of enamel.
Laquer drys *much* faster.  
For automotive,  i usually let my primer dry for several days
B4 I put on the topcoat.
Oh, this would B on a warm summers day.   Temp  80degF.
I haven't had time to try the DarkTS paper stuff.
But, i have a pac of it on my shelf.......
Another thought would B the "powder coat" home kits.
They come in many flavors/colors.
Anyone tried this??

[mathflan]

Hi!

I make my design on corel draw and I print the design on T-shirt black transfer paper.
with sandpaper I clean the aluminiun box where I put the design.
After Put the design on the boxe, I put a varnishe on design to protect it.

My REBOTE 2 DELAY with transfer black t-shirt:
http://mathieu.vallet1.free.fr/index/DSCN2581.JPG

SORRY for ENGLISH...

Bye

[mrsage]

I've tried t-shirt transfers with the black paint you use for painting charcoal grills.

That stuff works fine because it's made to withstand heat.

I'm not sure about anything else though...I'd second the waterslide decal idea.

[Samuel]

fwiw - i've had great success tshirt transferring to the pre-powdercoated hammond boxes...

[moritz]

OK, thanks for the replies guys.
I haven't got any boxes to paint just at this moment, but i have got a couple of builds making their way along the "assembly line", that will be due for painting in the near future...

mathflan, that's a cool looking box -a very "professional" style look (gotta love being able to do white lettering with the t-shirt transfer!   )

I'm not entirely sure at this point whether to try t-shirt transfer or water slide decals, but either way, i'll fill you all in on the results as they come in. In the meantime i may even try a few experiments with t-shirt transfer and various paints on some scrap metal or something.

Once again, thanks everyone for the input!  

[runmikeyrun]

I used t-shirt transfers on top of Krylon and i didn't have any issues.  I did however keep the heat to a minimum, i think i only had the iron on there long enough to get it to transfer, not to "set" it like you would on a shirt (for 30 seconds) if you lacquer over it with clear you don't have to worry about it coming off if it's not totally set.

Mike

[idlefaction]

FWIW, laser etching is fast, cheap and awesome.  it comes out black and a wee bit smudgey on baked paint, black and clear on powder coat, and silver on anodised aluminium.  :-)  your die cast boxes won't be able to be anodised tho, they'll dissolve unfortunately.

[Zapped]

I tried using the light t-shirt transfer on my painted box. I was using Automotive paint abd it just melted the paint in the area of the transfer. Maybe  I used too much heat . I don't know . What I do know is that I wont try that again. Maybe I'll do the transfer first then mask off the transfer, then paint.

[idlefaction]

oh yeah, cheap but good is also laser printing backwards onto sticker backing.  buy a packet of A4 sticker. peel the stickers off and discard (or do something useful with them) and print onto the shiny backing stuff that's left.  then you can iron it on just like the t-shirt stuff and it's loads cheaper.  use your iron on low heat, for about two minutes, moving it back and forth.

i've also used this to make PCBs with great success.   :-)

HTH!!!  i don't use this usually cos i do all my layouts on paper and then draw them on with sharpie